The match between Madison Keys and Sorana Cirstea at the 2024 Italian Open was stopped because of protesters who disrupted the play.
Unfortunately, there have been multiple protests seen around the tennis Tours in recent months. It all seemingly started at Wimbledon, where Just Stop Oil protesters stopped one of the matches, throwing confetti on the tennis court.
They didn't do it only once, but twice in one day, and it wasn't the only event seeing protests in recent months. Climate protesters disturbed also the match between Taylor Fritz and Andy Murray in Washington, and Coco Gauff's match during her US Open trophy run was also interrupted due to the same reason.
This season also started with a protest, but this time a 'Free Palestine' protest at the Australian Open, and climate protesters returned once again at the joint ATP and WTA 1000 tournament in Rome.
During a fourth-round match between Madison Keys and Sorana Cirstea, protesters stormed onto the tennis court, throwing confetti all around it.
While some have been caught early enough, one of the protesters made it all the way into the middle of the court. The person was immediately tackled by the security, as both players were confused as for what was happening.
The incident happened during the second set of the match, and the play had to be stopped for over an hour, before the court was cleaned and ready for a tennis match again.
On top of that, some of the reports suggested that some of the protesters even glued themselves to the stadium in the stands, and that was also one of the reasons, why the match couldn't resume immediately.
Eventually, the match could continue, and Keys seemed to be unbothered by what was happening, winning 6-2, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament.